Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1887-03-21


a engines, stea M
Il LAWS boats and electrical
machines. He used to spend much time with
the family clock, greatly to the disrnay of his
mother, no doubt, and when he was u he
could pull a patent lever watch in pieces,
clean and repair it, with all the skill of an ex-
perienced jeweer
When he was Is years of age his father
met with financial reverses and the boy was
forced to leave school and prepare to win his
bread and his way in life by his unaided
efforts. That same year 1883 the family
went to St Louis The steamer in which
they Travelled burned in the night during the
trip, and young Eads landed in st. Louis
without coat or shoes on the very spot now
covered by the abutments of the great steel
bridge which he many years afterward de-
signed and put up.
Selling apples on the streets was the way
be took to make living. for no other occu-
patton presented itself for long time, and in
this way he not only supported himself but
contributed considerably to the maintenance
of his mother and sisters. After while he
built diving bell boat for the purpose of re-
covering the cargoes of sunken steamers, and
later company was formed and soon its
business extended over the entire river, from
Balize to Galena, and branched out into some
of its tributaries
The following very characteristic anecdote
OF Capt. Eads is taken from an admirable
sketch of his life published about year ago
in The Popular Science Monthly:
His first undertakings in the peculiar and
instructive study Of hydraulics occurred while
he was constructing the first diving bell boat,
not then completed. A barge loaded with
about hundred tons of pig lead was sunk
upon the rapids of the Mississippi river, near
keokuk, in fifteen feet of water A contract
was made for the recovery of this lead He
had had no experience whatever with the
submarine armor or diving apparatus of any
kind; but, engaging diver from the lakes
who was familiar with it, with an armor,
an air pump and a sailor skillful in
the use of rigging, he started-at that
time only % years of age-to the scene of the
wreck Obtaining barge, this was promptly
anchored over it and preparations made for
the diver to so to work; but the current was
found so exceedingly rapid that it was inn
possible to use the armor with any safety. A
belt around the divers waist was attached by
q cord to the bow of the boat to hold him
against the current. and a ladder procured
on which the diver undertook to descend, but
it was impossible for him to control his body
in the current. Determined not to be baffled.
Mr. Eads Immediately visited the town of
keokuk and purchased a forty gallon whisky
barrel with which to improvise diving bell.
With several pigs of lead secured around one
end of the barrel by network of ropes, and
with that head taken out, a block and tackle
attached IL tie network at the other end and
a temporary derrick erected, nc -Has soon pre-
pared to commence the recovery of the cargo.
But the diver demurred and would not &C.
scend in this dangerous looking apparatus
Mr.. Eads then set an example which he has
followed throughout all his varied experience
as an engineer, which was never to
ask man in his employ to go where he was
unwilling to trust his own life. The bell thus
suspended was held against the current by
rope which led up to the bow of the barge
and strap across the lower end of the ba< reI
was used as the seat for the dive In il
be at once got into the diving bell and or
dered his men to lower him down. He had a
trace chain attached to a lead line, the lower
end OF the trace chain having ring in it. and
with this be was readily enabled to form a
loop, which was placed over one C the ny,
OF lead, ana ut a given signal it vas hoSstad
up. A small cord Sufficed to drawit bael- 70
him while he was still in the bell: end in th;c
manner number of pigs weighing seventy
pounds each We're recovered before he started
to come up-tbe cir pump ali the tne supply
ing him with air. But in the man time
having cleared the spaoe beneath til bell tbe
gay line moved it farther and frfher nn
stream IN compliance with his sifsals. and
instead OF the line being slsked ont ,
again when his men commenced risine tho !
bell, it was held SO far forward thdthe der. |
rick capsiSed, having no guy to holdit IN the |
opposite direction. His assistants seed the /
block and tackle and pulled the whisk barrel |
up to the surface Of the water by hal. But /
1t was so weighted with the lead aI,nd IL
that they could not rinse it higher. Neknoy.
ing what was the matter he waited psentlv |
the air pump running with redoubled aocftv
supplying him with plenty of air. ! soon
saw the fingers Of q man under the cine of
the barrel, and, recognizing this as ainvi-
tation, he seized the mans hand and q ont
from under the barrel, much to the DELFT az
all on board. The derrick was then sared
against any possible catastrophe occt,ing
again, and, after o number OF successfulins
to the bottom, the diver was content do
the remainder of the work.